Russian Innovation Week kicks off in Boston, Massachusetts

Russian Innovation Week 2013, which opens here on Tuesday, provides representatives of Russian and US companies, specialising in the development of high technology, an opportunity to get acquainted with each other and establish mutually beneficial partnership relations, Russian Trade Representative in the United States Rinat Dosmukhamedov told Itar-Tass. “Russian Innovation Week in the United States is an opportunity for Russian and American companies, developing innovations in various spheres of scientific knowledge, to establish a real-time dialogue and find business partners,” he said. According to Dosmukhamedov, this year Russia “is widely represented not only by the researchers, but also by the leadership of a number of regions, which will facilitate the development of trade and economic cooperation between Russia and the United States at the interregional level.” “The Republic of Tatarstan, which is actively developing contacts with American regions, universities and the business community, is one of the main drivers of this process from the Russian side,” said the RF trade representative. “At the end of 2012 the foreign trade turnover of the Republic of Tatarstan with the United States reached 461.6 million US dollars, 19.7 percent higher than in 2011. It is this sphere that contains a huge potential for the development of cooperation.” The Russian Innovation Week this year is expected to bring together representatives of relevant departments, the heads of major Russian companies, as well as Russian regions with significant investment potential. Head of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, Krasnoyarsk Krai governor Lev Kuznetsov, Deputy Finance Minister Andrei Ivanov, CEO of RUSNANO corporation Anatoly Chubais, CEO of Russian Venture Company (RVC) Igor Agamirzyan, as well as President of the Skolkovo Foundation Viktor Vekselberg are among them. The Russian Innovation Week Conference is an invite-only event aiming to establish American-Russian business networking and solid cooperation in the sphere of innovation development by bringing together an elite group of business and government representatives from both countries. A platform to showcase bilateral business opportunities, the conference encourages building, promoting, and developing investment strategies in the industries of cleantech, biotech, pharmaceuticals, life sciences, nanotechnology, and IT. Those invited from the American side are: US State Department’s Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs Lorraine Hariton, former US Ambassador in Moscow John Beyrle, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Europe and Eurasia Matthew Murray, as well as heads and representatives of several dozen companies. The forum’s opening will be held at the Boston Centre for the Arts Cyclorama on Tuesday, and its main part will be held in the Silicon Valley (CA), at the Santa Clara Convention Centre on September 19 and 20. The organisers of the Russian Innovation Week 2013 are RUSNANO, RVC and Skolkovo Foundation.